Call of the Wild: PC Edition

Presbyterian College is occupied by two populations- the students and the faculty, and the others, the ones who will never completely yield the campus to us: PC’s wildlings. Day and night and year after year, we share the 240 acres of PC with a zoo of animals that includes geese, squirrels, cats, raccoons, bats, and the dreaded skunks.

During the day, we have our strength in walking to class in numbers. But the flocks of geese also have numbers, numbers that increase each year. Geese seem to think that our small town school campus is the perfect safe haven to live in. Many students, especially the Spradley Hall inhabitants, spend their walking routines dodging geese droppings that line the sidewalks.

These geese travel in large, but tight knit groups and change traffic patterns of students of students if they decide to congregate on one of the sidewalks. That is, unless you have no qualms about going straight into their numbers. And yes, they will chase you if you get too close. That being said, everybody gets a chuckle when they see a random guy charge at a group of unsuspecting geese.

“We would love to relocate them,” says PC groundskeeper Mac Stewart. “The geese tear up athletic fields, mess up sidewalks, and damage the pond. We tried to get animal control to remove them, but they refused to trap them.”

While the geese generally only occupy the East Plaza and the athletic fields, the squirrels occupy every corner, or shall we say, square foot of this campus.

Just like the geese, the squirrels seem to increase in numbers every year. PC is still waiting for the day when squirrels have reached carrying capacity on school grounds. Unlike the geese, the squirrels do not cause as much trouble for the maintenance department. Still, according to Stewart, the squirrels will eat the bark on the trees, especially during droughts, and occasionally get inside buildings.

Moreover, almost every student has had a squirrel from out of nowhere jump out in front of them on the sidewalk. This often gives one a mini heart attack, especially if your mind was elsewhere. Some students even swear that they throw nuts at you as you pass by. Will Sohn, a junior, states, “I’m tired of squirrels acting like they own the campus. They just run right next to you and they aren’t afraid of you either.”

Despite squirrels being a bother sometimes, they do make you smile when you see them chasing each other up the trees.

On another note, PC does have its share of insects. While you are watching down on the sidewalk for goose droppings you have to look up and make sure you don’t run into silk worms or spider webs hanging down from PC’s scenic trees. Just be careful not to get bugs stuck into your hair. Typically, though, people at PC are nice enough to pluck them from your hair.